With the rise of planar display panels, touch panels have become main stream in the market, and have replaced input devices such as keyboards, mouse devices, etc., such that the operation of electronic information products is much easier and simpler. In general, electronic products adopting touch panels include vehicle navigation, gaming laptops, cell phones, ATMs, electronic books, etc., such that the demands of the touch panel have increased dramatically in the market.
Methods of patterning touch panels are mainly implemented by laser patterning. Besides the laser patterning in the active area of the touch panel, the inactive area is also patterned to remove the conductive film (transparent conductive layer). For example, laser patterning an active area of a 3.5″ touch panel takes 30 seconds, but laser patterning inactive area of a 3.5″ touch panel will take 3 minutes. As a result, it is an important task to effectively improve patterning of the inactive area of touch panels.